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Saturday, 5 October 2013

It's Here & We're Happy With It

I've been avoiding thoughts of Autumn for a while now because that means winter and being fffffrreeezzing will come quickly after it. I now feel fairly content to give the summer up because there's so many new things to celebrate and prepare for.

There will be Apple Festivals, followed by Halloween and then Bonfire Night. We'll hopefully have the new knits I'm busy clacking away on to wear too.

Alongside all this are the apples we've harvested to make pies, cakes and the like; the sloe gin which is nicely fermenting ready to be sipped in December and the chillies slowly drying for all the spicy soups and chillies we'll need to warm our tums and tongues.

I've also been collecting a few books to add to the huge pile already by my bed to snuggle by the fire with. Throughout the summer I just couldn't stick with any of the books I started. This was really odd for me as I've always lost myself in a book. Being an only child with all grown-up cousins it was where I escaped to have adventures and get lost in other worlds.

I read everywhere we went quietly snuggled in the back of the car. My dad forgot about me one day because of this habit. I was seven and the pair of us had just visited his boatyard for something or other. We had to wait for the train that ran at the bottom of the hill so I asked if I could stand on the bridge and watch it come. I put my book down and ran to the bridge. Dad stayed in the car smoking his cigar and listening to the radio. Once the train had gone, the gates lifted and dad started to drive up the hill. I thought he was teasing me at first, then I got worried and ran up the hill waving at the back of the car. When he got to the top and turned left, I burst into tears. I went to the garage as I'd seen my dad talking to the man who owned it and just waited. Dad came back, after having driven nearly all the way home. He'd spoken to the me and when I didn't answer he got the shock of his life. He thought I might have fallen out of the car, having completely forgotten I ever got out to look at the train. A long old drive back for him I should imagine.

Books have always been figured largely in my world. After three years of a Literature degree I really fancied taking an MA in Myths and Fairytales. Instead I took a post-grad course to become a lecturer thinking I might inspire others to enjoy literature as much too. Getting all academic with books meant I found it hard to read without a pencil to annotate it. In the end I waded through daft books like Joanna Trollope to fix me of this problem. Now I always alternate reading a book that will make me think with one that I'll just enjoy whizzing through.

Maggie O'Farrell is always a writer that I can get straight into. After I read the fabulous The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox I was hooked by her narrative style and the characters she creates. Instructions for a Heatwave has grabbed me straight away and funnily enough is set in that same incredibly hot, blue skied summer when my dad left me at the train tracks. I like how things come full circle. It just feels right somehow.

The nights are now drawing in too quickly, but we're getting fabulous sunsets to make up for it.

It also means it's the season
of ill days off school. Little Bun was wiped out yesterday, planned well
as it was my day off thank goodness. I hate when I have to say struggle
on, I've got to work. She had the pleasure of hearing the dentist
drilling away at my teeth every time the door opened which worried her a
bit.

Just over the road from the dentists is a house where a lady sells bright bright flowers. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw she still had lots of stunning dahlia's to choose from. These will probably be the last until next year I guess.

Flowers chosen, we decided to pop off for a spot of shopping and browsing nearby. In Vintage Mischief
we found a mini mixing bowl to match my Nan's larger one that my mum
still uses and the brightest reddest suitcase.

The
suitcase was the same price as some fabulous 1930's floral fabric and a
lovely 1960s' yellow sheet. I was trying to be good, so it had to be one or
the other. I opted for the suitcase as I reckoned I have tons of fabric
and I've never ever seen a red suitcase before. Except on the lovely blog of the same name I guess.
I need more and more colour pops when the seasons change to keep me sane. I'm still thinking about that fabric mind you and wishing I had more spare pennies this month.

Now we're on the round of autumn birthdays aswell. Little Bun has been to two parties this week. One a tea party for a boy from her primary school and another for a new friend at high school. I sat up until late last night stitching this wee elephant key chain as her new friend is key ring mad.

We've had a really lazy Saturday so far, I've been shifting stuff from one place to another, the girls have been doing their thing, whatever that is....I know Little Bea has kept popping in to recite to me her latest poem, I've just been discussing the merits of studying literature with her. She's torn between studying art or literature.....she's only 9! I've told her to follow what her passions is! Mr Bea has spent most of the day repairing the guinea pigs cage, he's very much like Frank Spencer! Yes, the perfect Autumn Saturday and we are treating ourselves to the chippy later!You have the perfect suitcase there, I'm the same with the fabric....I've far too much and really need to stop buying! :) x

oh little red suitcase was definitely the right choice! I have been buying buttons and ribbons for my christmas makes today...just a few pennies as mine are few and far between too...but i feel quite excited! Enjoy the rest of the weekend Love E x

Hello Lisa, we have been to the reclamation yard today....like charity shopping but for men!!other half bought a lovely piece of slate and was as happy with it as i was with my new charity cardi!!love the suitcase and the keyring...wishing i could knit too....bestest Daisy xxx

That little red suitcase - what a find! It looks to be in pristine condition. What a great collection of finds you have shared today.My childhood revolved around books and imaginery brothers and sisters who lived in the spare room! In my first 6 years I had adult half-siblings who came and went for a few months at a time, so basically I grew up as an only child and I began reading at a young age. I, too, am finding it impossible to stick with a book to the end unless I am travelling as a passenger by car, train or plane. I guess we have too many distractions at home (maybe all our thrifted finds?). x

You WERE lucky to find such gorgeous dahlias...Loved the story about you being left behind because of your reading habit. My Mum has a host of similar stories about me ignoring the world because I was too engaged in a book, but thankfully none as traumatic as yours! Glad you're enjoying "Instructions...". I read it recently because I too, LOVE Maggie O'Farrell (still think "The Hand That First Held Mine" has the best description of what it is to be a mother that I've ever read) but sadly, I didn't enjoy this latest so much...Jo x

I was an only child too who escaped into adventure books! My Mum once left me outside the grocers in my pram and headed home, luckily this was the era of babies being left outside, so no one noticed! Love the suitcase, it's a great find, I wonder what treasures you will keep in it! Heather x

Books are very important to me too. I have a degree in literature and I taught the subject in high school before I had my children. I really wanted to encourage the kids to read. I was not often successful but sometimes it worked and that made me happy. :)

Your poor Dad - I can imagine what he felt. Another only child here who read all the time and everywhere often in my treehouse to get away from chattering grown-ups. I must look up Maggie O'Farrell haven't read any of hers and my Mum would probably enjoy them too. Parcel in post to you tomorrow. Karen xx

Oh blimey, your poor Dad, i'll bet he broke a few speed limits on that drive, and poor you, very traumatic! Love the little nellie keyring, it would be a struggle to let that one go. You were very restrained in VM. i can't go in either without coming out with a guilty purchase! Catx

Another fan of Maggie O'Farrell here, hope you enjoy this one too. Love the little elephant - I made one the same only turned it into a brooch! And as a child in the Fifties and Sixties, I remember long car journeys going on holiday, my mum map-reading and me sitting in the back, rolling my dad's cigarettes on his Rizla machine. Those were the days when nobody knew about the risks of passive smoking of course. And I was never without a book, from a young age to the present day. I loved going to the library each week with my mum, even though it was a rather forbidding building and not exactly bright and cheerful and child friendly. And it was on the dockside, so there was a constant smell of fish in the air! Lovely post, thanks.

I've had a lovely time catching up on here, that suitcase was meant for you and you can always stash your fabric inside it ;) we always seem to be at the dentist at the same time (I hope yours was kinder than mine) happy Autumn lovely Lisa xxxxxxx

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About Me

Hello

I'm at my best and happiest when I'm making. Vintage cloth is my absolute passion to work with. I love to make vintage style frocks, clothes and bags from the fabric I source. My handmade wardrobe is beginning to burst at the seams as I create clothes that I want and love to wear. Knitting, making felt brooches and toys also keep my hands busy.

My two daughters and lovely man share this world with me as well as our noisy cat Lily.

Lisa x

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